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"An assault rifle? Heh, man this takes me back!"
Bill
"Ah hell. Gonna set some things right with this shit."
Coach

The AK-47 is an automatic rifle in Left 4 Dead 2, losing fire rate, magazine size, and accuracy in comparison to other assault rifles for the highest damage per second and capable of effectively taking down hordes and Tanks. The damage fall off for this rifle is 3% damage per 500 Hammer units and after 1500 Hammer units, it suffers significantly greater damage fall off. It has a max range of 3000 Hammer units.

The AK-47 is used by Bill, Louis, Nick, and Rochelle (as well as Zoey in the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead 2).

Official Description[]

What this Soviet-made assault rifle lacks in accuracy, it makes up for in firepower. You can squeeze off these higher caliber rounds in single shots for ammo conservation, or room-clear with fully automatic fire.[1]

Tactics[]

  • The AK-47 can kill Common Infected with one shot on Easy and Normal, while it takes two shots on Advanced and Realism. Uncommon Infected take more shots to kill, but the AK-47 is still the most powerful assault rifle in the game.
  • The slower firing rate on the AK-47 saves ammunition when picking off lone Common Infected.
  • The AK-47's ability to inflict a high level of damage makes it an excellent Tank-killing weapon. It cannot quite match the Tactical or Combat Shotgun in damage per second at close range, but the weapon at mid-range is surpassed in effectiveness only by the M60.
  • While the AK-47 has poor accuracy when moving and a heavy recoil that causes loss of target acquisition, distant Infected can still be dispatched by taking careful aim and firing single shots or double-taps.
    • Crouching while firing greatly increases the AK-47's medium and long-range accuracy.
  • Shooting a sitting Witch in the head with the AK-47 will stun her momentarily in the same way that a head shot from the Sniper Rifle or Magnum Pistol does. If you are close enough, the AK's damage output will be sufficient to put her down. However, if you are too far, most of your shots will miss and you will be unable to kill her before she closes in and/or your magazine is empty.
  • The Laser Sight upgrade works best with the AK-47, since it improves this weapon's accuracy tremendously, especially at medium and long ranges.
    • Note that with a Laser Sight fitted, crouching does not improve accuracy over a standing position unless a player is shooting while moving.
    • There will always be a laser sight box in Whitaker's Gun Shop, found in the Streets chapter of Dead Center.
  • Except in Realism mode, Explosive and Incendiary Ammo upgrades do not complement the AK-47 as well as they do for the M16 Assault Rifle.
    • The AK-47's already high damage mostly nullifies the one shot, one kill capabilities of both types of special ammunition on Easy and Normal difficulties.
    • The decreased magazine size of the AK-47 as compared to other automatic rifles further dilutes the effectiveness of the ammunition upgrades.
    • However, the decreased fire rate of the AK-47 provides better control for those who wish to attempt to use single shots against each Infected, which can improve the total number of kills achieved with the augmented ammo.
      • This benefit is slightly negated, however, by the AK-47's reduced accuracy and spread, which can easily cause its bullets to miss their target, forcing the player to use more than one shot to kill an Infected, despite the improved control.
  • The Magnum pistol is a good secondary weapon to use with the AK-47 because the heavy pistol is an effective long-range weapon that compensates for the AK-47's poor accuracy. However, if you can master firing it in semi-auto, the Magnum will be rendered redundant, although it may still make a useful backup.
    • An exception to this is Realism, where the Magnum's superiority is unquestionable.
    • Ordinary Pistols are not as effective in a pistol-sniping role, but they are still more accurate than the AK-47 and so are viable secondary weapons to consider when choosing the AK-47 as a primary weapon.
  • Melee weapons work well with the AK-47 in chapters featuring short ranges and confined spaces. This tactic is best applied with the Katana due to its long range and wide swing arc as well as its notably fast swing speed.
  • The AK-47's ability to fire single and double taps (by gently pressing the primary fire button) is one of its most useful features. When crouching to improve accuracy, its fine trigger control and heavy bullet makes the AK-47 a decent ranged weapon (even without a Laser Sight) meaning distant Smokers and Hunters can be taken down with the expenditure of only 3 or 4 cartridges. Crouching, using the double-tapping technique and aiming at the central body mass is enough to kill a Common Infected on Expert mode.

Pros and Cons[]

Pros[]

  • High close range DPS and damage per hit; requires only one bodyshot (or two bodyshots on Advanced/Expert and Realism) to kill Commons.
  • Slow rate of fire, allowing better ammo conservation.
  • Benefits significantly from the Laser Sight upgrade, making it an an undeniable force with both solid accuracy and great damage (as well as per second).
  • Keeps flashlight forwards while reloading.
  • Decent reload speed despite its high damage.

Cons[]

  • Drains ammo at a relatively high pace in full auto.
  • Due to having the lowest magazine capacity of all full auto weapons, this reduces effectiveness of ammo upgrades.
  • High recoil and the lowest accuracy out of all rifle variants, making it poor for confrontations past mid range.
  • Rare chance to spawn at all.

Notes[]

AKMN

The AKMN

AK-47 Reloading Coach 3P

Coach replaces a magazine on the AK-47

  • The in-game AK-47 is modeled after the AKMN (1959), a modernised variant of the first-generation AK rifle developed in the late 1940s with a lighter receiver, new buttstock and muzzle device, this "N" variant come with a side-rail used to attach a night vision device. However, the front sight is modeled from the AK-47.
  • The in-game rifle's fire rate is much lower than its real-life counterparts (600 RPM, slightly lower than the M16). Ironically this matches the fire rate of the real life SCAR-L, which is burst fire-only in-game.
  • Despite the in-game 40-round magazine capacity of the AK, its model is fitted with a 30-round magazine.
  • The AK-47's third-person reloading animation is the same as the M16 Assault Rifle and the Combat Rifle, although the magazine, for obscure reasons, is never removed and an invisible AR-15 charging handle is pulled.
  • The AK-47 was rated 1st in the Left 4 Dead 2 Top 10 FTW Weapons on Machinima.com.
  • When held by a Survivor in third-person, the AK-47 ejects casings out the left side as opposed to the right in first-person.
  • The in-game model is using a Tapco polymer magazine, not a regular steel mag.
  • The bulb on the mounted flashlight actually uses the texture of an ammo cartridge's headstamp.
  • The AK-47 in CS:GO uses a slightly-modified version of the Left 4 Dead 2 model. This is also true for the Glock, Desert Eagle, and MAC-10. The "Rural" variant that can be found in the "Lighthouse Finale" is based on the Global Offensive AK-47's textures.
  • As of the Last Stand update, when Bill takes the weapon, as with all assault rifles, he reuses some generic audio for taking the M16 Assault Rifle.
  • The higher damage output of the AK-47 when compared to the M16 Assault Rifle in-game matches the performance of these weapons in real life. When fired, the 7.62×39mm cartridge, chambered by both the AK-47 and the AKM, produces approximately 200—250 more ft-lbs of force (90 kilograms more) than the 5.56×45mm cartridge, which is chambered by the M16 assault rifle. However, the higher damage per shot of the SCAR-L isn't quite accurate as it also chambers 5.56mm in reality.
  • Prior to The Last Stand Update, when shooting up or down, the AK-47 would return back to the center position. The M16 Assault Rifle was affected by this as well.

Gallery[]

External Links[]

References[]

Weapons
Primary Weapons
Tier 1 Chrome invert Chrome Shotgun / Pump invert Pump Shotgun / MP5 Invert MP5 / Mac10 invert Silenced Submachine Gun / Uzi invert Submachine Gun
Tier 2 Ak invert AK-47 / Scar invert Combat Rifle / M16 invert M-16 Assault Rifle / SIG Invert SG 552 / Auto invert Auto Shotgun / Spas12 invert Combat Shotgun / AWSM Invert AWP / Hunting invert Hunting Rifle / Steyr Invert Scout / G3 invert Sniper Rifle
Special Tier Grenade launcher inverted Grenade Launcher / M60Icon M60 Machine Gun
Secondary Weapons
Sidearms Pistol inverted M1911 Pistol / Deagle invert Magnum Pistol / Pistol l4d2 inverted P220 Pistol
Melee Weapons Bat invert Baseball Bat / Cricket invert Cricket Bat / Crowbar invert Crowbar / Axe invert Fireaxe / Pan invert Frying Pan / GolfClubIcon Golf Club / Guitar invert Guitar / Katana invert Katana / Knife Invert Knife / Machete invert Machete / Baton invert Nightstick / Icon pitchfork inverted Pitchfork / Icon shovel inverted Shovel
Special Tier Chainsaw invert Chainsaw
Other Weapons
Grenades Bile invert Bile Bomb / Molotov inverted Molotov Cocktail / Pipebomb invert Pipe Bomb
Upgrades L4D2 ammo explosive Explosive Ammunition / L4D2 ammo incendiary Incendiary Ammunition / Laser sight HUD invert Laser Sight
Fixed Weapons MMG Icon Heavy Machine Gun / Minigun icon Minigun
Items
Usable Items Explosive Barrel HUD invert Explosive barrel / Fireworks icon Fireworks / Gas canister HUD invert Gas can / Oxytank icon Oxygen tank / Propane tank icon Propane tank
Special Items Cola Cola / Gnome icon Gnome Chompski
Featured in both games / L4D1-exclusive / L4D2-exclusive (Counter-Strike weapons / PC-exclusive)
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